AGGIE BASKETBALL
McGinnis "D" spells trouble for
Aggie opponents.
Sports, Page 7
THE
STUDENT LEADERS
Profiles of Brooke Leslie and Matt Segrest.
Aggielite. Page 3
NOVEMBER ELECTIONS
Democrats lost because their
policies don't make sense.
Opinion, Page 1 MtiMk
1m
bl. 101, No. 76 (12 pages)
“Serving Texas A&M since 1893
Thursday • January 19, 1995
i&M’s minority funding policies under review
j Native American and
Asian students are not
eligible for two of A&M's
largest scholarships.
iy Gretchen Perrenot
he Battalion
A&M’s minority funding policies are under re-
I iew to determine the possibility of updating the
olicies to include Native American and Asian stu-
ents, A&M administrators say.
Administrators want to resolve the problem
rithin the academic year.
Dr. Dale T. Knobel, executive director for the
lonors Program and Academic Scholarships,
aid that A&M is trying to clarify whether the
iniversity’s policies can be changed before the
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
changes the state policy.
“We are communicating back and forth between
the state and the university,” he said, “and hope to
resolve this as quickly as possible.”
Dr. Dan Robertson, director for Graduate Studies,
said the Office of Graduate Studies would also be re
viewing the policy for minority fellowships for gradu
ate students, for which currently only African-Amer
ican and Hispanic students are eligible.
Robertson said a change in the policy is uncer
tain and reviewing it would require at least a week.
A&M officials began investigating the universi
ty’s minority policies in July 1994 in response to a
civil complaint from Rose Red Elk Hardman, a se
nior sociology student and founder of the Native
American Students Association at Texas A&M.
Hardman filed the complaint after discovering,
through her student activities, that Native Ameri
can and Asian students are not eligible for some
minority funds.
Hardman said she is waiting for the results of
the review before responding further.
“I’m hoping they are reviewing the policies, and
I feel confident that A&M will do the right thing,”
Hardman said. “I love this school and I want there
to be more opportunities for Native American and
Hispanic students here.”
Hardman said her cause is not for her own
benefit.
“It’s not for me; I’ve always received financial
aid,” Hardman said, “It’s the principle of the thing.”
Dr. Sallie Sheppard, associate provost for Un
dergraduate Studies, said A&M has been very sup
portive of Hardman’s efforts.
“I’ve worked with Rose over a long period of
time,” Sheppard said, “and have quite a bit of sym-'
pathy for her cause.”
Kevin Carreathers, director for Multicultural
Services, said the Office of Multicultural Services
is also sympathetic toward Hardman’s cause.
Carreathers said that he believes any deserving
student of the four minority groups—Asian,
African American, Native American and Hispan
ic—should be eligible for minority scholarships.
Knobel said that all students on campus, re
gardless of ethnicity, are eligible for most universi
ty generated scholarships.
“Scholarships are merit-based,” Knobel said,
“and most are awarded regardless of the person’s
ethnicity.”
All scholarships, except two merit based scholar
ships awarded to only African-American and His
panic students, are available to whoever has the
best qualifications. The Presidential Achievement
Award and the Aggie Spirit Award are the only
scholarships which have an ethnic requirement.
However, Knobel and Don Engelage, director
for Student Financial Aid, said all ethnic groups
are eligible for financial aid.
“Normal financial aid is color blind,” Engelage
said. “There is nothing specifically for any eth
nic group.”
The financial aid process includes a State Schol
arship for Ethnic Recruitment which is available
to all minorities, said Engelage.
A&M hosts
minority
conference
Q Southwestern
Black Leadership
Conference
begins today.
By Brad Dressier
1 j The Battalion
Minority student leaders
from throughout the state
will converge at Texas A&M
University this week in an
effort to improve their lead
ership skills at the South
western Black Student Uead-
I ership Conference.
Kevin Carreathers, director
I of the Department of Multicul
tural Services, said the SB-
SLC was founded at A&M in
1989 for minorities to enhance
Their leadership skills and ap-
: ply those skills at their respec
tive universities by strengthen-
|; ing existing programs and ini-
I bating new ones,
i T hope this year's confer-
jence inspires students to fur-
ither their leadership roles by
increasing their efficiency,
communication skills and over
all effectiveness,” he said.
| The conference’s theme,
‘When Will Tomorrow Be To-
:day?,” puts the focus on the
here and now, SBSDC chair-
Iwoman Stephanie Williams
said.
“We all need to apply our
skills to the problems that
face us today instead of
putting them off for future
'generations,” Williams said.
“College campuses have al
ways been areas of change
land growth, especially dur
ing the 1960s and 70s. Stu
dents need to get back to
that philosophy and act now
| before those problems contin
ue to grow.”
The conference will offer
; guest speakers, workshops, a
| career fair and a cultural ex-
itravaganza for the more
: than 1,100 expected visiting
student leaders.
Speakers at the 1995 SB-
i SLG will be Dr. Julia Hare, co
director of the Black Man
Think Tank, Cincinnati, Ohio;
Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu, presi
dent of African-American im
ages; and Bev Smith, host of
Black Entertainment Televi-
i sion’s “Our Voices.”
Lashaun Pollard, SBSL.C
associate chairman of Opera
tions, Public Relations and
Transportation, said that the
committee hopes to offer a va
riety of workshops, with some-
: thing to interest and enlighten
: each attendant.
Workshop topics such as
networking, furthering educa
tion, finding solutions to
racism, and searching for jobs
will be offered.
The career fair, with more
than 25 corporate recruiters,
will conclude the week's ac-
itivities, giving students the
| chance to make business con-
|tacts that could lead to job
I opportunities.
Doctorate program aims to increase
number of minority degree candidates
□ Video-conferencing
system gives students
throughout Texas a
chance to earn a
Ph.D. from A&M.
By Tracy Smith
The Battalion
A new Texas A&M Ph.D. pro
gram is combining environmental
research, distance learning and
technology to boost the number of
minorities receiving doctoral de
grees in Texas.
The program, funded for the
next five years by the Texas Gen
eral Land Office, will link engi
neers and researchers at Texas
A&M University, Prairie View
A&M University, Texas A&M
University—Kingsville and Texas
A&M Corpus Christi.
The $1.5 million program will
emphasize research in natural
and engineered systems ranging
from oil spill remediation to wet
lands and coastal problems.
Dr. James Bonner, a Texas
A&M civil engineering profes
sor and head of the environ
mental pipeline program, said
this environmental pipeline
program links smaller histori
cally Hispanic and black
schools with the larger Texas
A&M institution. This rein
forces the educational process
for underrepresented students
in engineering at all the insti
tutions, he said.
“The pipeline program cre
ates a support structure for
students and researchers be
tween majority and minority
institutions,” he said.
Dr. Andy Ernest, assistant
professor in environmental en
gineering at Texas A&M Uni
versity—Kingsville, said the ba
sic purpose of this program is
to provide an enhanced re
search environment for devel
oping advanced degree candi
dates with expertise in environ
mental oil spill remediation.
“Since we are a regional uni
versity, we have ties all the
way down into high schools, in
cluding ties into the community
colleges,” Ernest said. “The
main goal is to pipeline stu
dents from an undergraduate
degree into a master’s and then
on to a Ph.D.”
The academic program al
lows students to complete an
environmental master of sci
ence and master of engineering
degrees through the Trans-
Texas video conference net
work, Ernest said. The net
work will allow professors at
the four participating universi
ties to teach students at any of
the other participating univer
sities through a live telecom
munications feed.
Kirby Donnelly, assistant
professor in veterinary medi
cine and anatomy at Texas
A&M in College Station, said
the pipeline program has been
a win-win situation for both
professors and students.
“It gives students the chance to
receive expertise in an area that
their university may not have ex
pertise in,” Donnelly said.
Donnelly, who is one of the
professors participating in the
program, said the program has
increased the number of minor
ity Ph.D. candidates.
“There are a number of top
students out there interested in
getting their Ph.D., but are at
tending universities without a
Ph.D. program,” he said. “This
program gives them the link
that they need.”
CrimeStoppers program
relies on student input
□ Campus
CrimeStoppers
must overcome
obstacles before
starting.
By Lisa Messer
The Battalion
Student leaders are strug
gling with forming a cam
pus CrimeStoppers pro
gram that would help
reduce theft and
other crimes on
campus.
Gene Zdziars-
ki, coordinator
for the Conflict
Resolution Center
and campus advisor
for CrimeStoppers, said find
ing a way to staff and operate
the student-run program has
been difficult.
“It takes students to work
it,” Zdziarski said. “They’ve
got to learn how to operate the
program and how to forward
the information to law enforce
ment officials.”
Garrett Higley, chairman of
campus CrimeStoppers, said
deciding who will answer the
phones and what hours the
program will operate is the
biggest problem.
“We’ve got to figure out
who’s going to do what,”
Higley said. “We’ve got to
work out some compromises
with other student leaders.
“We did a lot of work on it
last semester, but it’s felt
like we were just run
ning in place.”
Zdziarski said the
program should
have sufficient
funds to start this
semester.
“We should be
able to get going
fairly easily,”
Zdziarski said. “We’ve
got $1,000 for set-up from the
county program.
“There may also be some
funds that were established
for a reward program a
See Crime, Page 9